By Nigeria’s opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday has hailed the British Parliament for its resolve to impose sanctions on some public office holders due to the Federal Government’s management of the recent EndSARS protests.
Recall the #EndSARS protests was triggered by reports of extra judicial killings, extortion and harassment carried out by a notorious police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS. Many Nigerians, mostly young people, trooped out in demonstration. The movement later gained global attention as the international community called on the Nigerian leadership to deal with the situation.
In a debate last week, the British Parliament had indicted some Nigerian officials and security agencies of violation of human rights, particularly the reported shooting and killing of unarmed and peaceful protesters at Lekki Toll Gate.
The PDP in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, called on the international community to impose similar sanctions on indicted Nigerian public officials, while urging the British government to freeze assets and accounts belonging to such officials in the United Kingdom.
The PDP said: “Our party also urges the British Government to extend the proposed sanctions to include the freezing of assets and funds belonging to such officials and their families in the United Kingdom.
“We also call on other countries, including United States, France, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa among others to impose similar sanctions against indicted officials of the Buhari administration for human rights violations and crime against humanity.
“Such sanctions should also be imposed on officials indicted for undermining our democracy and electoral system.
The opposition party said the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is characterised by human rights violation, disregard to rule of law, disobedience to court orders among other crimes against humanity, stating the need for the international community to call the President out.
“The international community must call out President Buhari, as the buck stops on his table, as the Commander-In Chief under whose watch, human rights violations including arbitrary arrests and detention in dehumanising facilities, widespread extra judicial killings, sudden disappearances of dissenting voices, disregard to rule of law, disobedience to court orders and foisting of siege mentality on the citizenry, have become the order of the day.
The party added: “Indeed, the manifest use of brute force, including the deployment of the military with live ammunition, in addition to recruiting of armed thugs to attack and kill innocent Nigerian youths, who were in peaceful demonstration against widespread police brutality and other systemic injustices, underscores the horrible situation in Nigeria under President Buhari as detailed in earlier reports by Amnesty International and US Department of State among other international bodies”.
The party said the government’s failure to explain its role in the violence unleashed on the peaceful demonstrators as seen in the case of the Lekki shooting, is frightening. It further accused the federal government of desperately trying to cover up their tracks by threatening to shut down the social media.
“Is it not equally frightening that government has also failed to explain how armed thugs were seen being brought in security vans to unleash violence on demonstrators in Abuja and other parts of our country?
“Rather than providing answers to these troubling questions, the Federal Government is desperate to gag Nigerians, muzzle the press, shut down the social media and even threatening the international media including CNN for carrying out an investigative report on the Lekki killings, while its officials continue to make contradicting claims on the matter.
The statement added: “Moreover, the administration had turned a deaf ear to the demand for an independent National Truth Commission on the killings. Such stance only points to desperation for a huge cover up in the face of demand for answers by Nigerians and the international community.”
